Essential Reading

for Every 8th Grader

1. Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
2. Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
3. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and 13 Related Readings by Mark Twain
4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
5. Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
6. Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories by Chris Crutcher
7. A Child Called It by David Pelzer
8. The Chosen by Chaim Potok
9. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
10. Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas
11. Earthsea Wuartet #1 The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
12. 18 Best Stories by Edgar Allan Poe
13. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
14. Fences by August Wilson
15. Grendel by John Gardner
16. Having Our Say by Sarah Delany
17. Heroes, Gods and Monsters of Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin
18. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
19. Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
20. Maus I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
21. Monster by Walther Deam Myers
22. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
23. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
24. Twenty One Great Stories by Abraham Lass and Norma Tasman, eds.
25. Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros